Is it permissible to play cards in exchange for food or drinks? And is this considered gambling?

The questioner : Another question. Some people, for example, some of our brothers in Ramadan or at other times, play card games. When we tell them, for example, "It is not permissible to play cards or dominoes," they say, for example, "We do not play this game for gambling; rather, for example, the loser... for example, pays for the drinks and food..."?

The Shaykh : This is a time of twisting and turning...

Another questioner : The one who wins pays for the drinks.

The Shaykh : There is no gambling [The Shaykh laughs!].

Another questioner : There is no gambling.

The Shaykh : The question is clear regarding this gambling; because what does gambling mean? Risk. The one who loses has to pay for the food and drink. It is not necessary that the winner’s profit goes only into his pocket; no, the important thing is that the winner is... on the group that eats at his expense; because he was the cause, he was the winner, so the result is the same. They put this profit in his pocket, and then he went and treated the group or others, or directly from the loss to the food... What is the result? The same, just twisting and turning...

Another questioner : It is the same thing...

The Shaykh : This is a form of gambling without doubt, but suppose they play with paper money, excuse me, with this "Shiddah," what do you call it?

Another questioner : Shiddah cards.

The Shaykh : In Shiddah, they play without any kind of gambling; okay? Is there anything wrong with it? We say, for example, there is no gambling, and one might think there is nothing wrong with this... but the truth is, at the very least, there is something, and it can be said there is everything wrong with it.
First: The Shiddah they play with is also one of the games of the disbelievers. So it represents some of their rituals, and some of their ideas and beliefs. You will find, for example, the image of the priest. Do you know the priest? The Christian priest we talked about earlier; I mean, what do you call the scholars of the Christians? What do you call them in Algeria?

Another questioner : Do you not have Christians?

The Shaykh : ... .

The questioner : Papa.

The Shaykh : Oh?

The questioner : Papa.

The Shaykh : Papa? How?

The questioner : ... .

The Shaykh : I said: What is his name?

The questioner : Papa.

The Shaykh : Papa, okay; the important thing is that this is mentioned in the Qur'an, the priests and the monks. So these are also called "Khoury" in Syria. Do you remember the image on this Shiddah card? There is a young man and a girl.

The questioner : ... .

The Shaykh : ... It is very good; so this Shiddah itself, like the hat, represents some of the ideas of the disbelievers. So playing with it and winning with it by imitating their religious rituals, this is also imitation. Playing with these cards, in addition to the fact that when they distribute these cards to start the game, they bow over the images and lean on them. This is not the nature of Muslims. And so it came in some narrations from Ali ibn Abi Talib that he passed by people playing chess, and you know that chess has some statues and idols like the horse, the king, the elephant, and I don't know what else. So he said to them: . A wonderful representation; because they gather like this, and all their attention and interest is to see, the spectators want to see who is the clever one among the competitors, for example, so they focus completely and cluster together like the worshippers of idols around their idols. So he disapproved of them with the strongest disapproval, and rebuked them with this verse: ; this applies exactly to those who play Shiddah.

The questioner : ... Chess... Our Shaykh?

The Shaykh : How? Chess? ...

Another questioner : Its ruling is different, my master; is it not?

The Shaykh : What is this?

Another questioner : The ruling on chess is different from...

The Shaykh : Keep the question in mind.

Another questioner : Understood.

The Shaykh : ... Suppose that people want to play this Shiddah, then they must eliminate the images. And that means they must find an Islamic Shiddah, if that expression is correct... Why? Because we are saying: these are images, and bowing over them is not permissible. So if we suppose this... we say: there is another thing that stands in the way of permitting playing with this so-called Islamic Shiddah, another obstacle; and that is that playing Shiddah has forms, some of which resemble something explicitly forbidden, and some resemble something permissible by deduction, not by explicit text... the pebbles. The first form is relying on luck, and this is the nature of the dice game called "Nard." It is authentic from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) that he said: . In another hadith: . So from this aspect, playing this Shiddah is forbidden if it is of the type that relies on luck, meaning a card is thrown and whatever comes out for a person is more? He is the winner, like dice. And so in our region in Syria, when they play dice, they call out: "Oh luck, oh chance!" Because... what? Halal and haram.
There is another type of game based on using the mind, sharpening the intellect and memory. There is no objection to this, provided that it does not distract from the remembrance of Allah and does not turn away from the path of Allah. And so in the end, you find that playing Shiddah involves risk; meaning, it is rare for a player to escape it if we suppose the existence of all these conditions, and that is far to reach.
This is the answer.